History TakeThat / ProfessionalWrestling

* After the 2/12/00 edition of ''Dynamite'' went off the air, there was an impromptu tag match where Brandon Cutler and QT Marshall took on the team of UsefulNotes/{{Jesus}} and Franchise/ScoobyDoo. This is a not-so-subtle shot at Wrestling/SethRollins and Wrestling/RomanReigns respectively. [[note]]Rollins has been referring himself as "The Monday Night Messiah" and Roman has been referred to as "The Big Dog."[[/note]]

[[folder: AEW]]

* With Brodie Lee's reveal as the Dark Order's Exhalted One, he ensures Wrestling/ChristopherDaniels that he's "not the first [[Wrestling/VinceMcMahon out of touch old man]] to not believe in me."

* The prime objective of ''[[Wrestling/WCWMondayNitro Nitro]]'' was "take that, ''[[Wrestling/WWERaw WWF Raw]]''" since its very inception. Hell, even the name '''Monday Nitro''' is a play on '''Monday Night Raw''' For starters, Nitro was always broadcasted live save for a few exceptions, while Raw back then was largely taped in advance (they added more live events some time later to counterattack, but still maintained a live/taped schedule, because it's cheaper). Wrestling/EricBischoff made note of it by giving away spoilers to Raw main events during Nitro broadcasts to minimize channel drift (for those who don't know, both Nitro and Raw broadcasts [[Wrestling/MondayNightWars always overlapped each other minimum by one hour]]). Some of the reveals, especially in hindsight, really made no sense, like during second overall Nitro Bischoff spoiled the result of the Wrestling/ShawnMichaels vs. Wrestling/SidEudy match over on Raw, while on Nitro {{Wrestling/Sting}} vs. Michael Wallstreet was about to start.

* The prime objective of ''[[Wrestling/WCWMondayNitro Nitro]]'' was "take that, ''[[Wrestling/WWERaw WWF Raw]]''" since its very inception. For starters, Nitro was always broadcasted live save for a few exceptions, while Raw back then was largely taped in advance (they added more live events some time later to counterattack, but still maintained a live/taped schedule, because it's cheaper). Wrestling/EricBischoff made note of it by giving away spoilers to Raw main events during Nitro broadcasts to minimize channel drift (for those who don't know, both Nitro and Raw broadcasts [[Wrestling/MondayNightWars always overlapped each other minimum by one hour]]). Some of the reveals, especially in hindsight, really made no sense, like during second overall Nitro Bischoff spoiled the result of the Wrestling/ShawnMichaels vs. Wrestling/SidEudy match over on Raw, while on Nitro {{Wrestling/Sting}} vs. Michael Wallstreet was about to start.

* The quote at the top of the page is an example of this [[HoistByHisOwnPetard backfiring]] ''[[EpicFail terribly]]''. It came just a few minutes prior to the notorious "[[FingerpokeOfDoom Fingerpoke of Doom]]", and ''[[Wrestling/WCWMondayNitro Nitro]]''[='=]s ratings ''plummeted'' seconds after it was said, as a massive chunk of the audience changed channels to watch ''[[Wrestling/WWERaw WWF Raw]]''.[[note]]Wrestling/EricBischoff (who'd ordered Schiavone to deliver the line) had ''massively'' underestimated Wrestling/MickFoley's popularity and well over ''half a million people'' wanted to see him get his just reward for his hard work.[[/note]] For months afterwards, [[Wrestling/{{WWE}} WWF]] fans would bring signs to shows that read, "Mick Foley put my butt in this seat!" thus launching their own take thats at Wrestling/{{WCW}}.

* On the 10/26/1996 edition of ''Nitro,'' while confronting Sting, Wrestling/ScottHall referred to the fake sting as a "Bogus Imposter" and mentioned how no one knew about bringing out an imposter "better than us" while pointing to Kevin Nash, a shot towards the infamous fake Diesel and Razor Ramon WWF tried to push as the genuine article.

** Hell, Michaels gave Hogan a massive finger during the match by overselling every move, completely making it into a joke.

* In 2019, Wrestling/AJStyles turns heel and reunites with Wrestling/KarlAnderson & Wrestling/LukeGallows to reform the Club, only now it's called "the O.C." What the "O" stands for tends to vary, but, it's commonly thought to be "Original" or [[Wrestling/BulletClub "Only Club that matters"]].

* In Herb Abrams' UWF, he had a geeky {{Jobber}} called Davey "The Observer" Meltzer, [[https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3awwur_uwf-90-1_sporta shot at Dave Meltzer of The Wrestling Observer Newsletter]].[[note]]''Wrestling/TheWrestlingObserverNewsletter'' HATED the UWF, naming Abrams "Worst Television Announcer" in 1990, the UWF the worst promotion and ''Fury Hour'' the worst TV show in 1991, and their live TV special ''Blackjack Brawl'' the worst major wrestling show in 1994.[[/note]]

* At ''ECW Gangstas Paradise'', September 16, 1995, [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/us/ecw/ecw-t.html ECW World Tag Team Champions]] Wrestling/{{Raven}} and Wrestling/StevieRichards defended the belts in a 2 out of 3 Falls Match against The Pit Bulls. During the third fall, Raven used an ether-soaked rag on PB #2, as a shot against Wrestling/JimCornette's booking techniques, with Wrestling/JoeyStyles saying, "Of all the low-down, old-time,, take that crap to [[Wrestling/{{SMW}} Smoky Mountain]]!"[[note]]For what happened next, see [[TooDumbToLive/ProWrestling Too Dumb To Live]].

* In 2019, Wrestling/AJStyles turns heel and reunites with Wrestling/KarlAnderson & Wrestling/LukeGallows to reform the Club, only now it's called "the O.C." What the "O" stands for tends to vary, but, it's commonly thought to be "Original" or [[ Wrestling/BulletClub "Only Club that matters."]]

** Jackie Gayda claiming how the TNA girls were tougher than the WWE's; this was before the knockout division and was questionable considering the source.

* CHIKARA's 2008 Season Premiere ''Two Eyebrows Are Better Than One'' was supposed to have been held at [[http://www.moravian.edu Moravian College]] in Bethlehem, PA but had to be moved to American Legion Hall in Hellertown, PA. The second match was CHIKARA regular Hydra vs. Zombie Plantain (a creation of Dr. Cube, the BigBad of Wrestling/KaijuBigBattel, as an EvilCounterpart to CHIKARA's popular Heroes team Los Platanos) vs. The Moravian Greyhound (some guy in a greyhound suit, since Moravian College's teams are called the Greyhounds). The finish was Hydra and Zombie Plantain double-Chokeslamming the Greyhound and pinning him at the same time, with Hydra being ruled the winner.

* After TBS executives interfered with Russo's programming and forced him to cut way down on edgy material, Russo decided to repackage Lenny and Lodi, who had previously portrayed a homosexual tag team, as "Standards and Practices". The idea was that they would go around with a clipboard making sure that everything was up to the high moral code specified by TBS. Being that this was WCW, they were never properly introduced, the commentators failed to sell them well, and they were never pushed and rarely even used. Ironically, this led to [[SmurfetteBreakout the introduction]] of [[Wrestling/StacyKeibler Ms. Hancock]].

* Wrestling/{{Yokozuna}} defeated [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/wwe/wwe-h.html WWF Champion]] Wrestling/HulkHogan for the title at the first ''King of the Ring'' [=PPV=] on June 13, 1993 by pinning Hogan with his own FinishingMove, the legdrop. A mere ''two matches later'', in the [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/wwe/ic.html WWF Intercontinental Heavyweight Champion]] Wrestling/ShawnMichaels vs. [[Wrestling/BrianAdams Crush]] match, Crush hit Michaels with a big boot and a legdrop for a two-count. Hogan was probably barely out of the building at that point, and the WWF was ''already'' burying his finish.

* Wrestling/{{Gillberg}}, who was basically a Bizarro version of WCW's biggest star Wrestling/{{Goldberg}}. Unlike Goldberg, Gillberg was pale, scrawny, had cheap entrance effects, a very obviously fake chant, had a shitty dotted line tattoo that mocked Goldberg's, [[{{Jobber}} could only win with outside help]], has the catchphrase "Who's First" instead of "Who's Next," and was even slated to have a 173-match losing streak. However, this was averted when he defeated [=Goldust=] due to a distraction by Gillberg's former J.O.B. Squad ally Wrestling/TheBlueMeanie, who was doing his [[AffectionateParody "Bluedust"]] bit from 1996 Wrestling/{{ECW}}.

* Certain WWE divas have started using the finishing moves of TNA wrestlers. Candice used Wrestling/{{Christian}}'s "Unprettier", Wrestling/MichelleMcCool used the "Styles Clash" etc. ''Might'' not be a take that, as there are no trademarks on moves, but when a TNA main eventer's finisher is given to a diva more than once, it becomes suspicious. However, the "Styles Clash" ''had'' previously been used in WWE by the late Crash Holly, who called it the Crash Landing.

* After WWF bought WCW, they took up the contracts of various wrestlers, two of which were [[Wrestling/GregoryHelms Shane Helms]] and Buff Bagwell. Helms got into a real life fight with Bagwell at WWE's training facility. Helms came out without a scratch and Bagwell needed medical attention. Bagwell was gone from the WWF shortly after putting on a notorious stinker of a match against Wrestling/BookerT on the July 2, 2001 episode of ''Raw''. Sometime after Helms adopted the Hurricane gimmick, he incorporated Bagwell's FinishingMove the Buff Blockbuster (top rope somersault into a neckbreaker) into his offense, with the announcers calling it the "Overcast." Raised to the level of a GeniusBonus for those fans who recognized the move, since Bagwell never got the chance to hit the move himself on WWF television.

* Back in 2006, Wrestling/CMPunk no-showed a Wrestling/{{CHIKARA}} event and got very snotty about it, CHIKARA responded with... CP Munk, the straight edge chipmunk! (he's almond-free, he's acorn-free and he's better than you). Punk did not take Munk well, at all, and made some really nasty comments about CHIKARA. This inspired CHIKARA not only to make Munk an occasionally recurring character, but to make two more, Colt [=CaBunny=] (based on Punk's tag partner Wrestling/ColtCabana) and Ace Panda (based on Ace Steel, and the incident where WWE lost the rights to the F to the World Wildlife Fund, which spawned jokes about WWE "losing to the pandas"). Neither Steel nor Cabana were offended, and Cabana was actually highly amused by [=Cabunny=]. He has since made an appearance for the promotion late in their eighth season, as part of a storyline involving him rescuing Cabunny from an abusive owner. On top of all that the Munk/[=Cabunny=]/Panda stable is called "Team WWF" -- as in World Wildlife Fund, mocking Wrestling/{{WWE}} for the circumstances that led to their name change.

* In Missouri was the rated G superstar Mary Elizabeth Monroe, riffing on Wrestling/{{Edge}} after WWE went PG. And there were many more, including at least one youtube series that started referring to Edge as "The Rated G [[UsefulNotes/{{Wii}} Nintendo Wii]]" in response to the rating switch.

* [[Wrestling/ShaneDouglas Dean Douglas]] was originally scheduled to face Ahmed Johnson at ''WWF in Your House 5: Season's Beatings'', December 17, 1995. However, he claimed he had a back injury and brought in as his replacement his "graduate student," "The Nature Boy" Buddy Landel, who walked out in a fancy robe and to music that bore a distinct resemblance to Flair's. Ahmed squashed Landel in 42 seconds. The whole thing was an InJoke[=/=]GeniusBonus for those {{Smart Mark}}s who knew of Douglas' hatred for Ric Flair, as it was a guy with the same gimmick and music getting squashed like a bug; although it's perhaps worth noting that, while this still counts as a TakeThat, Landel had been wrestling under the "Nature Boy" gimmick for quite some time, even in other promotions.

* Towards the end of ''The Rise and Fall of WCW'', everybody was trying to guess why the company fell and they blamed three specific people: Vince Russo (who didn't have Wrestling/VinceMcMahon to [[ExecutiveMeddling filter his ideas]]), Wrestling/KevinNash (who didn't want anyone to be on top of him), and Wrestling/JeffJarrett (who "Broke 6000 guitars and never drew a dime"). [[{{Wrestling/TNA}} Guess what company would later employ all three guys]]?

* Wrestling/{{TNA}} Wrestling has used many, ''many'' Take Thats against Wrestling/{{WWE}}, to the point where it became a de facto rule that "if you were a former WWE employee, you must take shots at said company if you want a push".

* Gillberg, who was basically a Bizarro version of WCW's biggest star Wrestling/{{Goldberg}}. Unlike Goldberg, Gillberg was pale, scrawny, had cheap entrance effects, a very obviously fake chant, had a shitty dotted line tattoo that mocked Goldberg's, [[{{Jobber}} could only win with outside help]], has the catchphrase "Who's First" instead of "Who's Next," and was even slated to have a 173-match losing streak. However, this was averted when he defeated [=Goldust=] due to a distraction by Gillberg's former J.O.B. Squad ally Wrestling/TheBlueMeanie, who was doing his [[AffectionateParody "Bluedust"]] bit from 1996 Wrestling/{{ECW}}.

* Ring Of Honor has thrown quite a few at TNA over the years. TNA cut ties with ROH after one of its founders was caught in a sex scandal, even though Ring Of Honor had already fired him. Attempts to patch things up have never lasted. ROH also has quite a few for The Wrestling/NationalWrestlingAlliance and Wrestling/CombatZoneWrestling but in those cases ROH has retained its working relations with them and just does it in good fun and or because they are having a {{crossover}}.

* Bobby Roggers boasted about Future Of Wrestling being the first pro wrestling promotion in the world to tour South America, which was a {{take that}} at Wrestling/BuddyRogers's fictitious WWF title victory in Brazil.

* One of the recurring segments on Wrestling/{{GLOW}} involved owner/boss David [=McLane=] talking on the phone with a fellow wrestling promoter named Vince. Gee, I wonder who they're talking about ...

* In Missouri was the rated G superstar Mary Elizabeth Monroe, riffing on Wrestling/{{Edge}} after WWE went PG. And there were many more, including at least one youtube series that started referring to Edge as "The Rated G Nintendo Wii" in response to the rating switch.

* In Missouri comes the rated G superstar Mary Elizabeth Monroe, riffing on Wrestling/{{Edge}} after WWE went PG.

** During the earlier days of Wrestling/{Fortune}}, [[Wrestling/FrankieKazarian Kazarian]] made Take Thats towards the WWE, from referring to the crowd as the "TNA Galaxy" (a shot at the WWE referring to its fans as the "WWE Universe") to shilling Fortune by saying that they weren't "[[Wrestling/TheNexus a group full of rookies]]."

-->--'''Tony Schiavone''' on the January 4, 1999 episode of ''Wrestling/WCWMondayNitro''.

** During the earlier days of Fortune, Kazarian made Take Thats towards the WWE, from referring to the crowd as the "TNA Galaxy" (a shot at the WWE referring to its fans as the "WWE Universe") to shilling Fortune by saying that they weren't "[[Wrestling/TheNexus a group full of rookies]]."

** Tommy Dreamer complaining about WWE's use of ECW, even though TNA was doing the same thing.

* At ''TNA Lockdown 2011'', Wrestling/KurtAngle used the [[Wrestling/RandyOrton RKO]] in his match against Wrestling/JeffJarrett. This is after Angle criticized Orton (and Jack Swagger) on his twitter for using his Angle Slam (and Anklelock). His reason for using the move:

* Eric Bischoff posted a rather scathing blog about how stupid WWE was for going PG and focusing on a younger audience. He goes on and talks about how they were losing viewers because of it (the RAW he brings up still maintained their average overall rating while going up against Monday Night Football), proceeds to bring up the demographic data, and states that "facts hurt". This blows up in his face spectacularly, as the very week he says this, TNA Impact dropped below a 1.0 rating for the first time in several weeks. Facts hurt, eh, Eric?

* Ethan Carter The Third mocked WWE's tendency to rename wrestlers and refused to refer to Rycklon Stevens by his WWE name of Ezekiel Jackson, stating it was merely something that was pulled out of a bin.